Pioneering research into ‘smart’ wound care

In the future, it is hoped that a new generation of smart dressings could offer the potential to detect wound infection, establish sensitivity to antibiotics, monitor wound healing, indicate tissue oxygenation, detect pressure ulcers, deliver therapies and even stimulate skin repair.

Infection is the primary cause of complications following a burn injury. In rare cases infection can lead to death, particularly in large and deep burns and, even in children with small burns, via complications such as toxic shock syndrome. Symptoms of infection in burn patients can be very difficult to distinguish from other symptoms arising from inflammatory response to the burn itself, as well as other illnesses such as the common cold. Due to these challenges, the standard methods that clinicians use to diagnose infection are of limited value in treating burns patients. 

The scientific principle that underpins the wound dressing concept is that: although all wounds will contain some bacteria, in a healing wound, bacterial growth will be controlled by the patient’s immune system. However, in a wound that becomes non-healing and pathologically infected, the bacterial density reaches a critical concentration – a CCT (critical colonisation threshold). At this point, bacteria communicate to one another via quorum sensing and secrete cytolytic toxins including haemolytic delta toxin from S. aureus and rhamnolipids from P. aeruginosa.